BAGUIO PUSHES CASHLESS TRANSACTIONS FOR PUVS

BAGUIO CITY: Cashless or contactless public utility vehicle (PUV) transactions will soon be the thing in the Summer Capital. Mayor Benjamin Magalong is pursuing the alternative payment system for PUVs in the city as part of the “new normal” lifestyle in view of the continuing threat

of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) and the city’s digital transformation. A memorandum of agreement will soon be forged between the city government and SquidPay, a payment solutions company that offered a fare collection system that uses “cashless, contactless and seamless payment transactions through tap cards, near-field communication (NFC) or QR codes.” The city accepted the offer because it will be free of charge and the company has the ready facility to implement the system, according to executive assistant Philip Puzon. Moreover, the system does not impose charges for its transactions and for the device to be used by the PUVs. The system was presented to public utility jeepney and taxi operators last June 24. Individual walk-through sessions were scheduled by the company beginning Friday to acquaint the operators and their drivers on the system. The system is targeted for implementation this July according to the mayor. He said he will also confer with the various banks next week to get them involved in the new payment scheme preparatory to its rolling out. “Contactless payment scheme will help minimize direct physical transactions when collecting fares, and this is aligned with our social distancing measure,” Magalong added. It is also in line with the city’s “Baguio in my pocket” project, which aims to digitize all city government transactions, and the Smart City project, which will set up a state- of-the-art integrated and multi purpose command center with the use of topof-the-line technology and artificial intelligence to tackle peace and order, traffic and disaster response.